Michigan State Mass Shooting Too Close to Home

While gun violence remains a vicious, all-too-present reality in America. Take it from current Michigan State freshman and member of the B-CC class of 2022, Michael Hoover:

“It was like 8 O’Clock yesterday [Monday]… and one of my buddies got a notification on his phone that in Berkey Hall, which is probably about a 10-minute walk from my dorm where I was, [students] heard multiple gun shots; and you know immediately that it sends panic through a lot of people.” Michigan State University Police and Public Safety later confirmed two people were killed at the Berkey Hall shooting.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the shooting. Hoover elaborates that this panic intensified when “[the shooter] head[ed] to the MSU Union after shooting multiple people, and that is even closer to my dorm, so obviously that’s a lot of fear, and questioning and concern over what’s going on.” It was later confirmed by Michigan State University Police and Public Safety that a third student was killed and more were injured at the MSU Union.

After this, the authorities looked for the shooter before he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when approached. During this time, Hoover reflects that “we were getting numerous emails from MSU to shelter in place, and nobody should have to receive those emails from their college campus. I think it said ‘Stay safe. Hide. Fight as your last resort’… you know me and my roommate had police officers come in… and told us to ‘Barricade our door just in case. Turn off the lights, nothing on.’”

This uncertainty led Hoover to seek out the truth on his own. Hoover reflects, “My roommate and I were just kind of chilling out, obviously scared, and were listening to… the police broadcast online, hearing people reporting incidents and things like that. He concludes, “[Monday night was] definitely a scary night, and one I will not forget.”

According to The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as any incident in which at least four people were killed or hurt, as of February 14th, this was already the 67th mass shooting of 2023. This school shooting comes just over a year after the school shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, just an hour and twenty minutes away from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, leaving this community grieving once again.

Hoover cautions, “I guess just always be aware. You know I never would have thought, I mean it’s just a random night.”